The Games
55Stones
Designer: Ralf Gering
Type: Miscellaneous
Status: Free
BGG entry:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22792
Available from:
http://www.manqala.org/wiki/index.php/MancalaGames/55Stones
From the BGG entry:
'55Stones is a new one-rank Mancala game from Germany with simultaneous movement and perfect information. Players try to capture most stones. Draws are not possible.'
From the manqala.org article:
'This Mancala variant is rather unusual:'
- It is one of the first one-rank Mancala games for two persons along with Atomic Wari and Sowing.
- All moves are played simultaneously, which is otherwise only known from Agsinnoninka, a traditional Philippine game.
- Yet, it is a game with perfect information, thus proving that Cohen's statement 'simultaneous play is a strict subset of games with hidden information' (AG 16, 2) is incorrect.
- The pie rule is used, which is primarily known from connection games to make the game fair.
'Unlike most modern Mancala variants 55 Stones is a multi-lap game with just a single type of pieces.'
'According to the inventor, people who actually dislike Mancala games have said that 55Stones is the only Mancala variant they enjoy. The game is described in the Italian Wikipedia while the German and English Wikipedias removed the lemmas on 55Stones. The English article is now hosted by Wikinfo, an alternative Wikipedia project.'